Letterboxd

I actually thought this would be closer to Friday as a film. Opening "cartoon violence" scene where a guy gets thrown into a wall and is completely fine kinda threw me off (I said to my movie buddy "Is this more like 'Blazzing Saddles'?" at that point). In the end I guess it was more like "Dude, where's my car?".

Anyway, a pretty funny movie, with 3 large weaknesses:

1. Some of the side actors were, ugh... limited... in range.
2. A strong editor could have cut the movie to the same runtime and probably put 1 or 2 additional scenes into the film.
3. The pacing became a little more accelerated at the end, but it was not enough to actually give you a sense of glee as things get wild. I want a layer cake built of interlocking plots coming together, instead it just felt like a brief sprint at the end.

Still, I'm a sucker for these sort of journey based (Odysseal?) type of films. It was funny enough, the characters where both good charming people, the story was compactly told.

Letterboxd

Not a perfect film, but damn if it does not have some interesting ideas and just a great sense of place.

Letterboxd

Idiotic fun.

Really elevated by three great scenes.

1. The scene where he squares off against another 80's channeling beekeeper in a gas station.
2. The scene where he takes down an entire scam call center.
3. The closing scene where he takes down some nebulous C corporation.

Campy fun.

Great (terrible) one liners relating to beekeeping, America, et all.

You should start a blog. Having your own little corner of the internet is good for the soul!

Inspired by Simon Wilson. I decided to try to resurect my long discarded blog. I wrote 2 things that I think are somewhat interesting.

1. A capture template in emacs for quickly capturing urls that I think are worth noting.
2. A script that takes those captures and commits and publishes them to my blog.

Here is the capture template

* %^{Title}
:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED: %T
:ATTRIBUTION: %^{Who should I attribute this to?}
:QUOTE: %^{Quote for this entry | nil}
:END:
%?

Here is the code in my .spacemacs that adds the template

(defun dotspacemacs/user-config ()
  ;; 2025-01-06 - Trying to setup a easier way to do quick blogs
  (setq org-capture-templates
    '(("f" "Found Blog Entry" entry (file+headline "~/blog/found.org" "Found")
      (file "~/orgs/capture_templates/found.org")))))

Now I can simply type org-capture Enter f to fill in this template and have it added to ~/blog/found.org under the Found root heading.

I then had Claude help me write a small script that basically parses every entry in ~/blog/found.org and adds it as a markdown entry to my static blog. The code is as follows.

import sys
import os
from datetime import datetime
import orgparse

def create_markdown(node):
    """Convert an org node to markdown blog post content."""
    # Extract link and title from heading
    title = node.get_heading().split(']')[1].strip() if '][' in node.get_heading() else node.get_heading()
    link = node.get_heading().split(']')[0].strip() if '][' in node.get_heading() else node.get_heading()

    # Get properties
    created = node.properties.get('CREATED', '').strip('<>')
    quote = node.properties.get('QUOTE', '')
    categories = node.properties.get('CATEGORIES', '')

    # Format date for filename and frontmatter
    date_obj = datetime.strptime(created, '%Y-%m-%d %a %H:%M')
    formatted_date = date_obj.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:00')
    filename = date_obj.strftime('%Y-%m-%d') + '-' + title.lower().replace(' ', '-') + '.md'
    categories_formated = [s for s in categories.split(",") if s]

    if link and 'link' not in categories:
        categories_formated.append('link')

    categories_formated = [f'"{s}"' for s in categories_formated]

    # Create frontmatter
    md_content = (
        '{\n'
        ':layout :post\n'
        f':title  "{title}"\n'
        f':date   "{formatted_date}"\n'
        f':categories [{",".join(categories_formated)}]\n'
        '}\n\n'
    )

    # Add quote if exists
    if quote and quote != 'nil':
        md_content += f'<blockquote>{quote}</blockquote>\n\n'

    # Add main content
    md_content += node.get_body()

    return filename, md_content

def process_org_file(org_path, output_dir):
    """Process org file and create markdown files."""
    if not os.path.exists(org_path):
        print(f"Error: Input file '{org_path}' not found.")
        return False

    os.makedirs(output_dir, exist_ok=True)

    try:
        root = orgparse.load(org_path)
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error parsing org file: {e}")
        return False

    # Process each node that has the right depth (2 in your case, for ++)
    for node in root[1:]:  # Skip the root node
        if node.level == 2:  # Only process ++ entries
            try:
                filename, md_content = create_markdown(node)
                output_path = os.path.join(output_dir, filename)

                with open(output_path, 'w') as f:
                    f.write(md_content)

                print(f"Created: {output_path}")
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"Error processing entry {node.get_heading()}: {e}")
                continue

    return True

def main():
    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
        print("Usage: ./write_found_to_md.py <org_file> <output_directory>")
        sys.exit(1)

    org_path = sys.argv[1]
    output_dir = sys.argv[2]

    if process_org_file(org_path, output_dir):
        print("Conversion completed successfully.")
    else:
        print("Conversion failed.")
        sys.exit(1)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Humorously, I'll have to look a little harder to figure out how to actually make my title into a link. But I think it is a good start. :]

Letterboxd

Based on the preview, I thought this was a complete gimmick and would likely not have seen this film. I saw it as part of Cinemark's Secret Cinema series and am actually glad I did.

Context: I do not know who Robbie Williams is. The songs (this is a very light musical) playing throughout I am assuming are old hits? I am ambivalent about musicals. I generally avoid movies about celebrities.

With all that out of the way, I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. It is the same story you have heard a hundred times. A talented young performer, with a great deal of grit and luck, rises to the top. In doing so they become extremely dependent on alcohol, anti-anxiety drugs, cocaine, and eventually heroin. They either burn out or have some sort of come to Jesus moment and clean their life up. The story is so well trod that it isn't even interesting.

However, 2 choices really elevate this.

1. The choice to make him a anthropomorphized chimpanzee. I mean, it is so simple it is kind of inspired. Because he is a chimpanzee he is always identifiable in a crowd (important to this film). Because he is cg he has a range of expression that are greater than that afforded to a limited-by-physics human. His close-but-not-human range somehow allows him to say and do things that would seem melodramatic (overacted?) in a human, but make sense within his rendered expressiveness.
2. The musicals were actually pretty fun. Especially one of the early boy band group (forgot their name) running through the streets of London. I'm also assuming that the dance choreography between him and a woman on a boat were entirely CG, as they seemed supernaturally skilled. You can do a lot with a film if you just make it fun to look at.

Anyway, this is getting too long for my style of review, which are mostly just notes to my future self. Just wanted to say that I was impressed by the use of computer graphics here as well as the pacing and visuals of this film. I feel confident that the team that did this could have probably elevated any story and look forward to future work.

P.S. I told my movie buddy that I think I have resolved to never look up anything about Robbie Williams, as I am content to think of him as a broad chested 6 foot tall chimpanzee who can sing.

Letterboxd

About an hour after getting my Covid and Flu shots, I saw this on a whim because "boosters" made me think of Sonic as I was driving by the theater. Pretty decent, enough chuckle worthy moments to keep me going. Jim Carrey was easily the best thing in this film.

Letterboxd

A little disappointed. I wanted something weird like https://letterboxd.com/film/bram-stokers-dracula/ . This, was not that.

I've read the book, but have never seen the original https://letterboxd.com/film/nosferatu/.

As I said, I wanted something weird, frightening, sensually disturbing, maybe even something casually violent that really shocked me. I'm not really clear on what I didn't like about this film, but it just didn't catch me at any of the easy hooks that can get me engaged in a vampire flick.

An honest effort, but just not my thing.

Letterboxd

I enjoyed this despite not being much of a sports movie type of person. The film captured that this is a teenager who has drive but was not "on a path". Her home environment was awful, she was not being molded from a young age by a controlling influence, she was obviously completely out of her depth in terms of navigating "the game" of being an Olympic athlete. And yet she makes it happen anyway. The movie argues that she would not be where she was were it not for her coach, who was instrumental in helping her train. However, beyond that, he also seems to have been the "keeper of the flame" of her own internal fire. At many points she likely lacked the discipline or drive to keep going on her own, but her coach consistently reignited her passion to win. A good example in film that a coach not only imparts skills, but also mindset.

Letterboxd

A frequent thought of mine after watching a film is "this should have been an animation." I believe this was the first film I have seen where I thought "this should have been a audio program." The pleasures of this film are conveyed principally through voice and dialog; hearing Lynn Belvedere insult the suburban household he nannies.

I think it might have been interesting to release the entire thing as an audio program (this would require a narrator in parts), and then create a film afterwards that exactly superimposes on top of that.

Letterboxd

I was surprised to be somewhat underwhelmed by this film. I was particularly tired that evening and wonder if maybe I wasn't cogent enough to get it?

Stream of thoughts as I watched this:

• Where are they? Madagascar? South America? Nepal?
• Where did humanity go?
• It appears that humanity only recently left, as paper things are still present.
• Why is there a giant status of a human being? Why an even bigger one for a cat? The scaffolds around construction seem like the scaffold that a man would build (as opposed to, for instance, a golden retriever), what was their purpose?
• Are the bird and the cat long lost lovers or something? The bird keeps going out of its way to help the cat? Should I be reading into this?
• Is the cat the audience and the other animals are the seven deadly sins? Let's see, the capybara is sloth, the lemur is greed, the bird is pride... wait what is the golden retriever?
• Is this the afterlife and this whole thing some sort of transition you take between life and death?
• Wait, are the animals animals in their temperaments but human in their intelligence? I guess if a orangutan can pilot a go cart maybe a cat/capybera/bird can rudder a boat? Is that human level intelligence?
• Why did the bird ascend? Was it because of their earlier empathy to the cat?
• Is this supposed to be somehow related to the story of Babel? Are we supposed to judge each other by our deeds and not our words (assuming animals can't cross species talk)?

I eventually just got a little tired of trying to make sense of it. I still enjoyed the animation and the music, but I found the actual journey a little dull.

I suppose the end message was that a solitary animal (cat) chose to form a pack with a bunch of social animals, and by doing so let go of some of their natural fear and anxiety? I'm not sure.

Letterboxd

I think this is one of those films that probably sounded good in concept, but lacked tension in its actual implementation. Some of the plots points seemed fairly thin as well.

I meant to get [b:Empire of the Ants|837039|Empire of the Ants (La Saga des Fourmis, #1)|Bernard Werber|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388806191l/837039.SY75.jpg|123918] on inter-library loan but accidentally picked this up instead. Ended up reading it anyway and it is a quick romp through some of the more interesting breed of ants.

My only real criticism is that the author takes the position that we have to be convinced to take interest in these little critters at several points in the book. I found her insistence that I wasn't interested or that I could "skip ahead" at points to be a little annoying.

This was a solid surface overview of some of the more interesting types of ants accompanied by nice glossy pictures. Works for me.

Letterboxd

Too much of a "ending is open to interpretation" film for my taste. Still, fun throughout and even a little bit scary.

I am not much of a horror buff, but I thought it might be fun to see this Christian film 2 days after seeing https://letterboxd.com/samedhi/film/the-best-christmas-pageant-ever-2024/ . Which was preceeded by https://letterboxd.com/samedhi/film/conclave/ . It was fun to go on a bit of a Christian themed deep dive.

Letterboxd

I have not yet watched a Hallmark or Lifetime movie, though I intend to do so someday. I think this was a good intro to a sort of pro-christian, pro-family genre of film. I felt a sort of cognitive dissonance as I watched it, knowing that life is more complicated than the constraints that this movie allowed. It became fairly obvious fairly quickly that this is the sort of movie that would allow trouble, without allowing genuine problems to rear their ugly head. I think the closest the film may have come to a real problem was the mentioning of the erstwhile mother, who might have been something more dark (addict, prostitute, it is basically left to the imagination).

It is hard to really grade something when the majority of problems that most of humanity has are simply not present here. With that said, it is a cute movie that got me a little teary eyed at the nativity scene and what can I say about that?

It is enjoyable and pleasant to sit through. You will likely feel better walking out of the film than you felt walking into it. It has a few moral messages within it.

Letterboxd

Cute film, does not overstay its welcome. I feel might have been better as an animation than live action. Some of the dynamism of the situation might have been better captured by a skilled animator. Never quite made the jump to being touching for me, but I did enjoy the ending.

I do like how sometimes these Japanese films are ok with having a certain level of unexplained whimsy to them. Like not everything needs a perfectly defined and constrained universe. Internal consistency can sometimes be a bit overdone.

"Half Share" or "The Erotic Adventures of Ishmael Horatio 'Boytoy' Wang"

This book was a huge letdown. Honestly, I feel partly responsible—like I read too much into the first book.

Context: In [b:Quarter Share|2334538|Quarter Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #1)|Nathan Lowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1273808382l/2334538.SY75.jpg|2341114], I thought we were seeing a shy, "homeschoole-vibed" young man thrown onto a spaceship, forced to grow up fast. The protagonist, Ishmael, has a sharp mind and a knack for deep focus, and he made his first big impact by starting a trading booth during his initial six months on duty.

Expectations: I was looking forward to Ishmael using his focus and intelligence to tackle increasingly complex challenges—each maybe 20% tougher than the last. Sometimes he’d succeed, sometimes he’d stumble, and it would be his growth as an ordinary, decent person in a demanding world. I thought this was the journey.

Reality: This book wildly redefines Ishmael. He’s no longer the quiet, uncertain young man from [b:Quarter Share|2334538|Quarter Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #1)|Nathan Lowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1273808382l/2334538.SY75.jpg|2341114]—instead, he’s transformed into an implausible Gigachad. The change is just...absurd.

I may have misjudged [b:Quarter Share|2334538|Quarter Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #1)|Nathan Lowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1273808382l/2334538.SY75.jpg|2341114]’s intent, imagining a grounded series about a regular guy facing increasingly realistic challenges. Maybe I misread the plain, no-frills world as the author’s challenge to make something interesting out of it. Instead, it turns out this is a pure power fantasy: Ishmael’s a Mary Sue who lucks into insane opportunities at every turn. If this is your thing, enjoy the journey—but I'll be waving from the dock as you sail on.

Bonus: A small sample of things I found particularly absurd:


* Randomly referred from one tailor to another elite tailor.
* Receives “magic pants” that make women swoon.
* Gains a “platonic harem” of women who have a spiritual awakening just from watching him try on clothes.
* Every woman starts swooning whenever he walks by.
* The entire ship becomes inexplicably obsessed with his personal life.
* Turns into a master flirt.
* Revealed to be great in bed, apparently since he was 14.
* Handles his liquor like a pro, as his mom had him drinking for years.
* Acquires a magical talisman with an "energy indicator" that’s brighter than anyone’s ever seen.
* Teams up with a random woman (Sarah) who doubles the value of his goods with her selling skills.
* Sarah largely recovers from an abusive relationship after a single good night's sleep?
* Supernatural ability to walk into any open air market and immediately spot the highest ROI item.
* Completely loses all self-doubt.

Letterboxd

The ending threw me a little, but the acting is just so spectacular. I also knew basically nothing about how a pope is selected and found the details of the process interesting.

I have worked at large companies that have a oddly similar atmosphere to the cardinal's politics. Echoes of "what is best for the church" often sound rather similar to "what is best for the company". I found it an interesting contrast.

Letterboxd

This is a little better than Black Adam, but is on the same scale of screw ups in terms of completely failing to capitalize on the source material. Venom is a 2 man act, with Eddie playing the straight man and the Symbiote as his counterpart. Could have had great scenes with the hippy family as they wax on what they have given up. Could have had great scenes as they go through their own "Fear and Loathing" ark in Vegas. Instead, we got this... noise.

Letterboxd

Pretty interesting interpersonal story within a larger political story. Casting and acting was also perfect. However, like the Dune (modern) movies, for me it is more about the set pieces and characters and settings. I thought it was pretty good at skating the edge between making you sympathetic to a life of loyalty vs. feeling that the characters are overly constrained by their sense of honor.

A book that is almost captivating in just how un-extroardinary it is. It is no exaggeration to say that the most action filled sequences in this book involve opening a booth at an open market. Despite all this, I found myself compelled to finish it.

To play an armchair psychologist, I might say that this book satisfies a similar need to hearing about the day of a close relationship. Nothing they are telling you is particular important or interesting, but you grow to want to just hear about their day because you have grown to care for them. I can't explain a book like this any better than that.

Letterboxd

Noir isn't usually my thing, but this was a genuinely good film. It was a little too much to really make sense of the clues through my first viewing, I think I might enjoy it more on a second pass when I can collect the clues.

Letterboxd

Enjoyable, but honestly didn't give me enough time at each beat to connect emotionally with the characters.

I did however enjoy the after the film section that let me watch more about the movie. I wish more films did those post credit things (even if it was just a QR code that I could scan and watch on my own).

Letterboxd

Golly there was some amazing camerawork during this film. I think the thing I enjoyed the most was matching the archetypes of these characters to people I know in my own life.

Letterboxd

I really like the art style and really appreciated the capture of motion in the wildlife. I think this got me teary eyed 4 or 5 times to be honest. Felt that the scenes off the island could have largely been cut, but other than that a basically perfect film.

Letterboxd

Still a great film.